Bank of Ningbo Earnings: Resilient Credit Demand in Yangtze River Delta Boosts Net Profit

No-moat Bank of Ningbo continued its momentum in the first quarter of 2024, delivering year-on-year growth in revenue and net profits of 5.8% and 10.1%, respectively, while most of its peers under our coverage reported declines in both metrics. The results highlight a smaller-than-expected decline in net interest margin, supported by strong growth in loans to small and midsize enterprises, and weaker-than-expected fee income, which resulted from fee reduction in sales of financial products. We thus lift our 2024 NIM forecast by 3 basis points to 1.60% and lower our fee income growth projection by 6 percentage points to negative 10%. Our outlook for full-year 2024 net profit growth remains unchanged at 9%.